We did a brief bop around Galway this morning then back in the car to head to Cavan. We stopped on the way to visit Athlone Castle just because we were driving by and it looked neat. They have a museum that goes through the historical events of the site and it was fascinating. The Shannon River divides much of Ireland, and so anybody who controls the crossings has a major strategic advantage, which leads to a very, erm, eventful history. Lots of things going boom. Stuff like that.
Cavan is where BC is doing her genealogical research, so it was the main purpose behind this trip. Most towns in Ireland have genealogy centres now that researching family history has become such a big interest. Our driver told us of a graveyard in Cork (his home town) where they brought in experts to read the carvings on the old headstones and put everything they found online. Most of the headstones don't last long in this climate, so anything prior to the 1800s is pretty much impossible to decipher.
While she hit the library, I went to the bar. The hotel where we are staying, like so many of the big buildings here, was once an old English manor house. The ones that didn't get turned into museums became hotels. This one incorporated the original buildings and then expanded on them - leading to the pic I took below of the reception area. This is on the inside of the hotel lobby.
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The old stables are still standing too, and have been turned into a spa and connected to the rest of the building by a long glass hallway. The bar I'm sitting in is in the basement and was apparently part of a network of underground tunnels running through the site.
This does not mean that they are not respectful of their historical buildings. It means that they have so many old buildings that they can decide which ones are important, and let the remaining ones be taken over by hotels.
BC has taken to categorizing the age of some of the places we visit by figuring out how many times Canada's existence as a country would fit into them. "This tower was built in 1100? That's more than six Canadas!"
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Cavan is where BC is doing her genealogical research, so it was the main purpose behind this trip. Most towns in Ireland have genealogy centres now that researching family history has become such a big interest. Our driver told us of a graveyard in Cork (his home town) where they brought in experts to read the carvings on the old headstones and put everything they found online. Most of the headstones don't last long in this climate, so anything prior to the 1800s is pretty much impossible to decipher.
While she hit the library, I went to the bar. The hotel where we are staying, like so many of the big buildings here, was once an old English manor house. The ones that didn't get turned into museums became hotels. This one incorporated the original buildings and then expanded on them - leading to the pic I took below of the reception area. This is on the inside of the hotel lobby.
The old stables are still standing too, and have been turned into a spa and connected to the rest of the building by a long glass hallway. The bar I'm sitting in is in the basement and was apparently part of a network of underground tunnels running through the site.
This does not mean that they are not respectful of their historical buildings. It means that they have so many old buildings that they can decide which ones are important, and let the remaining ones be taken over by hotels.
BC has taken to categorizing the age of some of the places we visit by figuring out how many times Canada's existence as a country would fit into them. "This tower was built in 1100? That's more than six Canadas!"